Festive Favourites

Ok before I start, can someone just tell me where 2016 has gone!? My favourite season has come and passed, I’m not complaining too much though as I’m writing this surrounded by Christmas candles and mince pies yay. This post is a little peek at my beauty must haves for the Festive season, they’re the thing I grab when preparing myself for Christmas parties, family dinners or even just to be glam for the hell of it! P.s sorry there’s no pictures, my camera has died an unfortunate and very untimely death 😦Chanel – Soleil Tan Sheer Illuminating Fluid

So this is a product I bought almost a year ago now and when I first bought it home it definitely got lost in the endless drawer of highlighters, alas, I rediscovered it while doing make up about a month ago for my best friends 21st birthday and I remembered why I fell in love with it. Even now Summer is firmly behind us, this illuminator is honestly so wearable – not only as highlighter but also on the eyes as a liquid shadow or even mixed in with foundation for a gorgeous dewy glow. I did have some trouble at first getting it to sit nicely in top of the foundation on my cheek bones but I actually just tried blending it out with a Morphe Stippling brush and it worked like a dream (I’ve found that a larger, flat brush works best for working this product, or other liquid illuminators, onto the cheek bones, rather than small rounded or fan brushes). You get 30ml of this product, which should last you a pretty long time to be honest as the pigmentation quality means you really don’t need a lot of product to give you a gorgeous glow.

NYX – Lip Lingerie Liquid Lip in Sandstorm

Lucky for me, Boots in the UK started stocking NYX in nearly all of their stores this year and ever since then I’ve been obsessed! I have now collected all the current shades available from this range but Sandstorm has been my daily liquid lip throughout the whole of December, because let me tell you.. This pigment ain’t lying, honestly you get so much colour on the lips with the product and the angled brush makes application smooth and effortless. It’s also one of the most reliable liquid lips I think I’ve ever bought, I can put this on say 8:30am before work and be on my commute home around 4:30pm and still have a significant amount of product on my lips, which is so great because I absolutely hate having to take my make up out of my room because I’m so scared I’ll lose something! I would definitely recommend this product to people of all skills for its ease of use, extreme affordability and reliability.

Morphe – 35T Palette

It’s rare these days to find make up brands that are not only affordable (£19.99 each) but also of a high quality. Lucky for us, Morphe ticks both these boxes and more. Morphe is one of my favourite brands and the wearability of all their palettes has truly contributed to my make up journey. This palette is a mix of mattes and shimmers all based on taupe colours – absolutely perfect for Autumn make up. The best thing about all the Morphe palettes is that they’re so versatile – boasting 35 unique shades in every palette, the make up possibilities are endless! Pigmentation in this palette is outstanding, with very little fallout from the glitter shades so no dark spots of pigment is left on your face if you apply your face base before eye shadow. The only thing I can say bad about the Morphe brand is that I can’t find anywhere in the UK that stocks the 35O palette! It actually shocks me that Morphe isn’t available on the Sephora website (where UK shipping is only £6) and my go to Beauty Bay doesn’t stock that palette… *cries*. Overall, this palette along with all my other Morphe goods will be my forever favourites. The pigmentation, price point and huge range of products make the brand well worthy of any make up artist/enthusiast kit.

L’Oreal – Infallible Fixing Mist

So this is a product I bought on a whim in early September because my usual setting spray (Urban Decay All Nighter) was sold out at my local Debenhams, and I am so in love with this product! I would honestly say this is a total dupe of the Urban Decay… If you use it right. Basically make sure this is shaken very well before use and check you’re not spraying this too close to your face or hair for that matter or you will have little white spots of product build up over your make up which is not so fun to remove. However, once I figured that one out this product became part of my daily routine. I apply a setting spray onto my skin just before I blend in my foundation with the beauty blender, then i do a couple more sprays once my make up is totally finished. I know some people see that as quite excessive but that’s what I think works for me. This product is sold at just £7.99 and you get 100ml of product that doesn’t irritate skin, and it does what it promises… No make up fading or eyeliner running throughout the middle of that all important work xmas party!

Kiehl’s – Midnight Recovery Concentrate

I used to be so skeptical about oil based products on my skin, I didn’t understand how putting oil on my skin could reduce redness, help breakouts and stop general oil build up in the first place. So when the lovely lady at my local Kiehl’s counter gave me a sample of this oil, I admit my expectations weren’t high. 3 months and half way through my first bottle later, I struggle to imagine my night time routine without this product. The soothing Lavender scent (not overpowering) is enough to entice me alone – with Lavender generally being associated with sleep anyway, my body automatically knows its time for bed when I’m applying this. For me personally I think it can help with drifting off to sleep at night.That may be more mind over matter but if it sends me snoozing I’m not about to question it! At £36 the price point for this oil is pretty mid range in my opinion, however my 30ml bottle has currently lasted me for the best part of 4 months now, using 3-5 drops every night after cleansing and moisturising using just the tips of my fingers to gently pat onto the skin. My favourite thing about this product is that unlike a lot of facial oils, it absorbs into your skin quickly meaning your not getting that greasy feeling right before going to bed and you’re not ruining your bed sheets!

So there we go, the season has come and gone so I’m preparing now for the winter months and dreading setting my alarm for work on the chilly January mornings! As always, if there’s anything you would like to see me talk about & review or swap tips let me know in the comments or drop me an email. Thanks for the read 🙂